In recent years advancements have been made in moving away from the well known large cart based ultrasonic diagnostic systems. Although complex cart based ultrasonic instruments generally provide excellent image quality and a number of features, such as B mode, color Doppler imaging, three-dimensional display, etcetera, the systems are typically very costly, quite heavy (e.g., weighing on the order of several hundred pounds), and allow for only limited portability (e.g., rolling of a supporting cart over smooth surfaces, as well as being limited to where there are house electrical outlets). However, the portable ultrasonic diagnostic systems of more recent development have addressed cost and portability issues while still providing numerous advanced features, such as B mode, color Doppler imaging, and three-dimensional display while providing excellent image quality. Some examples of portable ultrasonic diagnostic systems are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,412 entitled “Hand Held Ultrasonic Diagnostic Instrument” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,651 entitled “Low Power Portable Ultrasonic Diagnostic Instrument,” the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Operation of portable ultrasonic diagnostic systems has not, however, been without difficulty. For example, in order to provide truly portable systems, battery technology has been implemented with respect to many portable ultrasonic diagnostic systems. Although providing increased freedom of movement (e.g., not requiring there to be house electrical outlets where an ultrasonic procedure is performed and not being encumbered with power cables) such battery technologies introduce the issue of a limited power capacity. Accordingly, various power conservation techniques have been implemented with respect to portable ultrasonic diagnostic systems, such as placing the instrument in “sleep” mode when user input has not been detected for a predetermined amount of time. The above referenced United States patent entitled “Low Power Portable Ultrasonic Diagnostic Instrument” provides an example of prior attempts to conserve power with respect to a portable ultrasonic diagnostic system. Although many prior art systems provide a useful level of power management, there is a need in the art to further improve power management and optimize the conservation of power with respect to portable ultrasonic diagnostic systems.